Of course the abused child would not understand it, Dianavan. Virtually nobody understands horrible things like child abuse when it's happening to them OR to somebody else.

But people do understand free will, and they have it.

God is not going to suddenly pop out of the sky and take their free will away from certain people just because they are doing awful things. God is not separated from the process. God would have to BE separated from the process in order to step in and intervene. Whether an abused child understands that or not is hardly relevant to the matter.

A God-force that is present within literally every atom, right down to the neutron and electron level is not separate from anything except the emotional and mental processes of people who refuse to tune into their highest impulse at any given time.

How the hell can such a God belong to a privileged elite when it is part and parcel of every living being?

You have intelligence, right? How well do you use it? How many beings operate at the full potential of their intelligence? Very few. How many operate at the full potential of their compassion? Less than one in 10,000. How many are completely without fear? Find me such a one if you can. To the extent that a person is utilizing intelligence, compassion, and every other good and useful quality whatsoever that person IS bringing forth the presence of God within him or herself. Is that hard to understand? I don't think so.

If you think that the present of evil somehow invalidates the concept of God, consider this: If you didn't have the example of cold to observe, then how would you know what "hot" is? If you didn't have the example of "short" to observe, how would you know what "long" is (no sexual puns intended). If you didn't have the example of "evil" to observe, how would you know what "good" is?

You wouldn't, because we draw comparisons between in order to form ALL our concepts about reality in a World of relativity...in which we observe everything as separate from ourselves. (that's a somewhat arbitrary observance, by the way, but it works as long as you believe in it...and no longer than that)

If you want a World where "bad things" that you find too horrifying to accept simply don't happen because of some divine intervention, you are whistling in the wind. This World you see and touch is not the whole story anyway...it's less than one fingernail clipping of the whole story.

You didn't get my drift at all. I am not suggesting that God is a God of the privileged few, and that is completely contrary to my understanding. God lives within every man, woman, animal, plant, and atom. I am saying that only a very few people completely succeed in bringing forth the highest possibilities they are capable of...and those people certainly do serve to inspire others to further efforts in that direction. Some examples: Gandhi, Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa, the Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, and various others...some of whom are famous, some of whom are not.

Less enlightened people then tend to form organized religions in the names of those saints and prophets and they go around doing awful things like burning people at the stake, abusing children, and fighting religious wars with each other. That is not the fault of the enlightened beings who inspired people in the first place, it's the fault of very unaware adherents who got all excited but didn't really get or understand the message they were given...they just followed their own fractured little fears and desires wherever they led them. That's their responsibility, not God's, because they have free will, and must decide for themselves how to use it.

Nothing you or I say about the matter will be of much particular comfort to an abused child...or an Iraqi family who just lost their house and their daughter to another useless American bombing run or another suicide bomber.

Free will is a very risky business, but it's better than being a mind-controlled robot or a slave, wouldn't you say?